Steele, ’wingers, join Cornyn - OK ugliness, fight exposure

Texas Sen. John Cornyn wants President Barack Obama to stop talking about an “enemies list” behind disruptions of Congressional town halls and such.

The idea that Cornyn, who sometimes flirts with the edges of reality, thinks Obama’s asking people to report GOP and ’winger Astroturf groups lies and misinformation about healthcare issues is sending secret information to the president, this one is so laughable.

Byron York joins Cornyn on the conspiracy theory of a secret presidential database being compiled.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele refuses to denounce any violence, intimidation or threats associated with these groups.

Anyway, here’s some more of the truth Cornyn, York and Steele don’t want you to hear about these demagogues:

North Carolina Rep. Brad Miller has had threats on his life and won’t do town halls. Other Congressmen are seeing more and more scenes of ugliness.

The LA Times has more on some of the ugliness.

Speaking of not telling the truth:

"We never condone disruptive behavior," said Amy Menefee, spokeswoman for Americans for Prosperity, which says it has 700,000 members. "We always tell people to be civil and respectful."

And, where are Cornyn and Steele, especially? Are they disavowing this? Noooo.

Update, Aug. 6: Astroturf & tea-bag ‘political terrorist’ action continues:

In St. Louis, Rep. Russ Carnahan was the target, though liberals were prepared. The result? A big pre town-hall fracas, which included multiple apparent “assault by cop” actions against healthcare supporters.

Remember, police generally come from the more conservative elements of society.

In Wisconsin, a protestor claming to be “just a mom” with “not affiliated with any political party” gets exposed as a big liar — a member of the Republican National Committee.

And good on Steve Pearlstein of the WaPost for calling the lies of folks like this “a flat-out lie.”

By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

And he closes with a note to the Jim DeMints of the world:

If health reform is to be anyone's Waterloo, let it be theirs.

Indeed, if we want to put this in terms of raw political calculus, this can be a counter-shift as big or bigger than Nixon’s “Southern strategy,” only this time, generational.